Strudel forever
Yet death doesn’t come instead he hears another spell being cast, he dares to open his eyes only to see a panting Theseus and an unconscious Prescott. He breathes out a sigh of relief.
“Newt!” He yells running up to his brother. He can see the effect the duel had on him, his clothes are burned in several places and he has cuts along his face and arms, although compared to the state that Tina’s in he seems full of life, her eyes are closed and there’s blood seeping through her blouse no doubt from wounds that have reopened, her skin is pale and she has a nasty cut running down the side of her chin and neck.
“Are you alright?” Theseus asks, “what happened?”
“I’ll explain later but we need to get Tina home” he rushes, fear sinking into him as Tina still doesn’t respond.
Theseus is on his feet in an instant and if lifting Tina out of Newt arms, he reluctantly lets go and stands up, his legs burn but they are seconds away from being home, Newt walks over to the can and picks it up quickly holding onto Theseus and Tina, he once again looks at her features, raising a hand to brush the hair out of her face, Theseus is silent he knows how his brother feels about Tina and that they care deeply for each other, he can be the teasing big brother later when both of them are awake and healing, the portkey shakes as it pulls them away.
———
She wakes to a bright light entering the room, she squints adjusting to the light to take in her surroundings. The first thing she notices is the familiarity of it, sketches of creatures plastered on the walls, a desk on the opposite side on the room littered with papers and chipped mugs. Newt’s apartment, his room to be specific. She notices her wrists and arms have been bandaged, she tries to move but is stopped by a sharp pain in her side.
“Teenie!” She hears a familiar voice and the rushing of footsteps, Queenie. She sits of the edge of her bed pulling her sister into a hug trying her best not to shake her to much, tears spring the blonde’s eyes as she reluctantly lets go. “How could you go without telling us, huh?” She says quietly. “We were worried sick, no word and then Theseus tells us you went undercover”
“Queenie, I had a job to do, I couldn’t risk you guys getting involved” she tried to reassure her sister.
“I know I just wish it was easier” she knows what Queenie means by that, the amount of times she has come home injured, if it weren’t for Queenie’s healing spells she is sure to have suffered from more permanent deficits.
“How long have I been out?” She asks breaking the silence.
“3 day” that surprised her 3 days, Queenie must have been worried sick, Tina was about to apologise to her again when something caught her attention, or rather someone. How did she not notice him till now? Newt was sat hunched over the bed with his head in his arms, he was fast asleep. She studied his features, he looks exhausted, that when a though occurs to her, has he been here the whole time?
“He’s never left your side, for 3 days he refused to eat or sleep, Teenie you really scared him, he thought he lost you and he’s blaming himself for it.” Queenie says sadly. “Hasn’t even visited his creatures, except for Pickett” at the mention of his name the little bowtruckle craws along to her arms, she smiles at him.
“Hello Pickett”she says to the little creatures but the fact that Newt hasn’t visited his creatures worries her, he cares so deeply about his creature why hasn’t he?
“I think you should talk to him about that when he wakes up” Queenie notes sensing her thoughts.
“Oh Newt”she whispered stroking his fringe out of his face, it’s tangled but soft she notices, he stirres slowly opening his eyes.
“I’ll go tell Jacob you’re awake, get him to make you a nice meal, you could certainly use one” Queenie smiles and exits the room closing the door. Her focus falls back to the magizoologist beside her.
“Tina!” he manages as his eyes lay of her frame, “you’re awake.” He wants to hug her, to hold her in his arms and never let go but he doesn’t fearing he’ll hurt her more. Sensing his distress she pull him forward so he sits on the edge of her bed and with all her energy she sits up grimaces at the shooting pains along her ribs but once she wraps her arms around his shoulders the pain disappears, Newt doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her. They stay like that in each other’s embrace and then she pulls back to look him in the eyes, he doesn’t meet them he’s looking down as if he’s ashamed.
“Hey, Newt”she begins lifting her hand to the crook of his neck but still he does not look her in the eyes, “you saved me, twice, if it weren’t for you I’d still be locked in that cell.”
“It wasn’t me…” he says quietly which confuses her but he continues, “I didn’t save you, Theseus did. If it was up to me the whole plan would have been ruined, once I heard you in that cell I wanted nothing more than to curse that man into oblivion but Theseus stopped me or we would’ve alerted the whole building, and then in the woods I failed you, if Theseus didn’t show up on time we’d both be…” tears are silently falling from his eyes, his expression broken. She takes both her hand and forces his chin up so his eyes met hers.
“No Newt, you protected me, that duel was impressive I’ve never seen you fight like that, and I’m here now with you safe, they can’t get us here” she told him. “I never doubted you for a second.”
These words mean more to him then he could express, their gazes are now locked onto each other and their faces are inches apart, she let one of her hands drop but the other still remains in the crook of his neck, he lifts his arms to brush a strand of hair behind her ears letting his hand linger, his heart beats faster, but he musters up the courage, he almost lost her, the thought of living in a world without Tina Goldstein is unimaginable to him, so he doesn’t hesitate to close the gap between them, at first it’s just a simple kiss, but it’s as if something fuels him and he puts some more force behind it still being gentle of her injuries, she responds to him with equal enthusiasm and after a few moments they break apart foreheads leaning against each other, their hands entwined, they both smile.
“That was…” she begins with a blush on her face, she has no words so moves in again capturing his lips once again, her fingers tug at the hair on the back of his neck as his hand move to rest of her waist, he feels like he’s floating, he wants to cherish this moment for the rest of his time. They are interrupted by someone clearing their throat, prompting the two to break apart yet their hands remain in a firm grip. It is no surprise that the culprit of the rude interruption is no other than,
“Theseus” Newt puffs out in annoyance yet he can’t seem to actually be put in a bad move.
“Interrupting something was I?” He smirks, his comment making both of them blush even more. “Well I’d let you get back to whatever it is you were doing but Jacob told me to tell you he’s bringing your dinner up Miss Goldstein”
“Nonsense, I’ll join you guys at the table” Tina states as she begins to move.
“Are you sure?” Newt asks worrying, not wanting for her to strain herself.
“Yes I am perfectly capable, plus I want to have a nice dinner, with everyone” this time he doesn’t argue instead helps her out of the bed.
“Alright I’ll tells the other you’ll be down, for the record I am glad to your back Tina” Theseus nods to her and leaves. She sways on her feet when she stands but Newt is there to support her.
“Thank you” she smiles as he helps her down the stairs, it’s an agonising trip but she knows it’ll be worth it to have a meal with her friends and family. Once they make it to the dinning room Jacob and Queenie greet the pair and help them into their seats, to her right Newt sits with Theseus on the other side of him, to her left sits Queenie,and a chair left between Queenie and Theseus is where Jacob seats himself. The round table is perfect for the 5 of them, filled with a whole selection of food, potatoes, meats, vegetables and in the centre,
“Strudel” smiles Queenie. Just like old times. The 5 of them remain like this long into the night catching up about Tina’s mission and what’s happened while she was gone, once the food ran out they played a bunch of games, wizards chess which Jacob found very odd but fascinating, a very competitive game of exploding snaps, at some point Tina slipped her hand into Newts and lay her head on his shoulder, the gesture ever so meaningful. They had a long way to go with this war, Grindelwald and his followers but now they have more information besides in this moment all of that seemed irrelevant, she was home surrounded by the people she holds dear, there’s no where else she would be.